November 09, 2024
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2024 season preview: Scouting the South Suburban Blue

By Steve Soucie
Lemont’s Jake Sulzberger makes a block during football practice on Wednesday, July 24, 2024.

Lemont’s Jake Sulzberger makes a block during football practice this summer. Sulzberger looks to carry on the tradition of strong offensive line play for Lemont this season (Gary Middendorf)

Bremen

2023 record: 5-5, 2-4

Coach: Connor Downs

Worth noting: Bremen is riding a four-season string of playoff qualifications, but if it is going to make it a fifth it will do so with a new head coach at the helm in Connor Downs. He replaced Dan Stell, who had been there for the previous 15 seasons. Downs has a solid core of returning players to lean on, but will likely need to quickly develop some more trusted depth as many of those core players are currently slotted to play both ways. QB Demarion Hampton will be a guide for the offense which has a number of players vying for time in the back field including Ronney Spruill. WR Malik Walton appears to be the biggest receiving threat. Defensively, the base appears to be provided by two-way lineman Jaime Martinez and Chuck Olowopopo and linebackers Nehemiah Rogers and Jatwan Hogan.

Schedule: Aug. 30 at Taft; Sept. 6 at Grayslake Central; Sept. 13 Shepard; Sept. 20 at Oak Forest; Sept. 27 Hillcrest; Oct. 4 Lemont; Oct. 11 at Tinley Park; Oct. 18 T.F. South; Oct. 25 at T.F. North.

Hillcrest

2023 record: 7-4, 4-2

Coach: Kyran Weaver

Worth noting: Hillcrest has established itself as one of the stronger programs in this league, now having qualified for the playoffs in seven consecutive seasons. Ideally, they’d like to return to the stretch of seasons where they reached at least the quarterfinals from the 2017 to 2019 seasons. This might be the group that can help them do that with 14 returning starters including nine on the offensive side of the football. Senior QB Gary Bradley should anchor that offense and look out for two-way RB/DB Erimus Wright, a South Dakota State signee. Tigea Mackey and Jordan Kennerson should give the defensive a solid anchor in the trenches. The wildcard might be 6-foot-6 inch, 225-pound defensive end Max Carmickle, who is bringing his athletic talents from the basketball court.

Schedule: Aug. 31 Benet; Sept. 6 at Montini; Sept. 13 at Oak Forest; Sept. 20 Tinley Park; Sept. 27 at Bremen; Oct. 4 T.F. South; Oct. 11 at T.F. North; Oct. 18 Eisenhower; Oct. 24 Lemont.

Lemont

2023 record: 5-5, 5-1 (conference champs)

Coach: Willie Hayes

Worth noting: Lemont needed a theatrical victory in Week 9 to both secure a conference championship and protect a nine-year string of playoff qualifications. Some of those uncharacteristic struggles came from an inexperienced offensive unit, but that won’t be the concern this year as nine offensive starters return. Most of the offensive void comes on the offensive line but Lemont does have two excellent building blocks to build around there with Jake Sulzberger and Chase Indestad. Defensively there’s some things that need to be addressed, but the linebacking corps that already has three capable seniors in Dylan Wilms, Connor Wilms and Frank Mandarino provide an excellent place to start from. Lemont has dominated this conference for several seasons and it is a trend that will probably have to continue if the playoff string is to continue as its non-conference schedule of Libertyville and Geneva looks particularly ominous.

Schedule: Aug. 30 at Libertyville; Sept. 6 at Geneva; Sept. 13 Tinley Park; Sept. 20 at T.F. South; Sept. 27 T.F. North; Oct. 4 at Bremen; Oct. 11 Richards; Oct. 18 Oak Forest; Oct. 24 at Hillcrest.

Oak Forest

2023 record: 2-7, 1-5

Coach: Anthony Malopsy

Worth noting: 2023 was a little bit of a step back for the Bengals, who were a playoff qualifier in 2022, but some of that can be explained by the fact that Oak Forest was forced to press a lot of untested underclassmen into varsity duty. At the end of the season, Oak Forest had as many as 10 sophomore starters on the field. While that scenario made 2023 difficult to navigate, it boosts optimism heading into 2024 as 15 returning starters are now in the fold. Oak Forest looks particularly strong at linebacker where Adrian Vergara, Osato Odiase and David Klenner all return with significant experience. Offensively there’s a bit more to sort out, but Malopsy likes the breakout potential of junior quarterback Daniel Chopp. Johnny Roberts and August Crnich should prove to be reliable receiving targets.

2024 schedule: Aug. 30 at Marmion; Sept. 6 at Sandburg; Sept. 13 Hillcrest; Sept. 20 Bremen; Sept. 27 at Tinley Park; Oct. 4 at T.F. North; Oct. 11 T.F. South; Oct. 18 at Lemont; Oct. 25 Oak Lawn.

T.F. North

2023 record: 7-3, 4-2

Coach: Anthony Pignatiello

Worth noting: 2023 was a breakout season for the Meteors as they completely flipped the script after going 1-7 in 2022 bursting through for a 7-3 record. That group leaned heavily on a strong senior class to make that sort of wave, and T.F. North will look to a few very key returning starters in WR/DB Trevon Conner and OL/DL Carlos Roa. Ideally those two won’t be asked to perform too much double duty, but their leadership skills will be called upon early and often. DeShawn Jones is another player that will also be looked to provide plenty of things to the cause. The biggest challenge for T.F. North will likely be replacing the league’s player of the year, graduated QB Dom Gradford, but Pignatiello feels that Jamirh Jolly is ready to take the reins.

Schedule: Aug. 30 Prosser; Sept. 6 Noble/Hansberry; Sept. 13 at T.F. South; Sept. 20 Evergreen Park; Sept. 27 at Lemont; Oct. 4 Oak Forest; Oct. 11 Hillcrest; Oct. 18 at Tinley Park; Oct. 25 Bremen.

T.F. South

2023 record: 3-6, 3-3

Coach: Robert Padjen

Worth noting: Back-to-back 3-6 seasons aren’t sitting to well with the Red Wolves and it looks to bounce back this year with a senior heavy group of performers looking to lead the way. Expect a lot of the offensive load to be shouldered by standout returning running back Christian Streeter, while a pair of twins, Christian and Tristan Headen will also play huge roles for the Red Wolves. Others from the senior class to keep an eye on are Jamari Crawford, Comarrion Cooper, Kevin Rincon, Damarion King and Nick Ford. T.F. South isn’t only looking to the seniors to do damage either as junior Zyon Boateng is highly regarded amongst the linebacker class of 2026, and sophomores WR Amari Dukes and massive OL Tylen Stephensen (6-7, 310) will likely be heard from.

2024 schedule: Aug. 30 Hammond Central; Sept. 6 Lane Tech; Sept. 13 T.F. North; Sept. 20 Lemont; Sept. 27 Reavis; Oct. 4 at Hillcrest; Oct. 11 at Oak Forest; Oct. 18 at Bremen; Oct. 25 Tinley Park.

Tinley Park

2023 record: 5-5, 2-4

Coach: Chris Vitt

Worth noting: Tinley Park was another program that really took a massive stride forward in 2023. After going 0-9 the previous season, Tinley Park quickly proved that history wouldn’t be repeating itself. Fortunately for the Titans there’s a healthy group of returners back to hopefully keep things trending in the right direction. Athletic QB Keoni George will be asked to guide the offensive unit through some growing pains as most of the returning group is on the defensive side such as DL Johnathon Collier, DB Jordan Spey, DB James Ellis and LB Cabren White.

Schedule: Aug. 30 Thornridge; Sept. 6 Romeoville; Sept. 13 at Lemont; Sept. 20 at Hillcrest; Sept. 27 Oak Forest; Oct. 4 Argo; Oct. 11 Bremen; Oct. 18 T.F. North; Oct. 25 at T.F. South.

FIVE PLAYERS TO WATCH

  • Osato Odiase, LB, Oak Forest: Oak Forest needed to lean on a lot of underclassmen last season and Odiase started to show signs of being a potential breakout performer at the end of last season.
  • Ronney Spruill, RB, Bremen: Bremen’s offensive unit had its moments last season but the Braves are certainly striving for a little more consistency this time around. If that happens, Spruill’s contributions will likely play a large part.
  • Christian Streeter, RB, T.F. South: T.F. South hopes to bounce back from two less than stellar seasons and there’s no denying that a big season from Streeter is a big part of the plan to get them back to previous prominence.
  • Jake Sulzberger, OL/DL, Lemont: Lemont has a long history of producing top-flight offensive lineman that help their offense to prolific scoring totals. Sulzberger could very easily earn his place in that line of standouts.
  • Emirus Wright, RB, Hillcrest: Wright is poised to have a massive season as a key cog in the Hillcrest offense. A South Dakota State commit, Wright possesses the ability to blow a game wide open at any minute.

FIVE CAN’T MISS MATCHUPS

Week 2 — Hillcrest at Montini: Hillcrest looks like a potentially dangerous team and will get a chance to test its mettle very early on with this nonconference matchup.

Week 3 — T.F. North at T.F. South: These two district rivals are fierce, but prior to last season it was a rivalry largely owned by T.F. South, T.F. North broke out last season with seven regular season wins including one over South, was that a fluke or a trend?

Week 5 — Oak Forest at Tinley Park: Both of these programs will likely need to take down this victory if they hope to earn a playoff qualifying slot.

Week 8 - T.F. North at Bremen: Bremen’s win over T.F. North last season was one of the few conference blemishes on the Meteors card and if the chaos of this conference from last year carries over into this year this could be a pivotal game for both in a playoff qualifying contest.

Week 9 - Lemont at Hillcrest: Easily the most significant rivalry that has developed in this conference over the last decade as it has been extremely rare that one of these two programs doesn’t own the conference crown at the end of the year. Fitting that it is the regular season capper.

STEVE SOUCIE’S PREDICTED FINISH

(* - Projected playoff qualifier)

  1. Hillcrest*
  2. Lemont*
  3. T.F. North*
  4. Bremen
  5. T.F. South
  6. Tinley Park
  7. Oak Forest